Hours Apart The Incremental Movements Remix
by The Plaid Slytherin
Summary: Remix of AzureFalls' "Hours Apart," written for chips remixed on LJ. Rose readjusts to her life in Pete's World with one new addition.


**06:44:09**

Rose watched the TARDIS dematerialize with her heart in her throat. This wasn't how she had imagined it ending. It had all gone too fast–she hadn't had time to say anything to the real Doctor, the proper Doctor, no good-bye, just like last time. She was supposed to have told him everything, she was supposed to have stayed with him, not let herself be shunted back off to the parallel world with some clone. Tears pricked the corners of her eyes and she let go of the hand of the man beside her. He didn't say anything, but he drew a sharp breath of air in through his teeth.

"Rose?" said her mother tentatively from behind them. "Are you all right?"

Rose wiped feebly at her eyes and walked over to join her. "Yeah. I'm fine, really. Just… Just tired." She glanced around the beach. "So, how are we getting home?"

Jackie pulled her mobile from her pocket. "All I can to do is call Pete…" She briefly glanced at the man who looked like the Doctor. "Unless he can get us home?"

Rose shook her head. "He can't," she said quietly. "He's not the Doctor."

**8:52:36**

The Torchwood helicopter and Pete with it arrived a little over two hours later. Rose was glad, since it meant an end to an awkward silence. The Doctor hadn't tried to talk to her, had just been standing a little way away from Rose and Jackie, hands in his pockets, staring at nothing.

In the time it had taken Pete to arrive, it had gotten easier to think of him as the Doctor, mostly because there was no alternative. He was the closest thing she'd get to a Doctor for the rest of her life, she realized. She was stuck with him.

Not that that was a bad thing. He looked like the Doctor. Acted like the Doctor. Sounded like the Doctor. She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. He'd deliberately left a seat empty between them, probably for her sake. She watched him, studying his hands. He'd been made from one of them, just hours ago, and in his short life, he'd caused so much destruction.

He was like the Doctor had been before he'd met Rose, the Doctor had said. She wondered what he thought about being left with her–it couldn't be easy to give up that sort of life, she knew that firsthand. Was the part of him that was still Time Lord yearning to keep traveling, crying out for his TARDIS? Was any of him still Time Lord?

Unconsciously, she reached out to touch his hand and found it comfortingly, humanly warm. He looked up at her and she let go.

"Sorry," she said. "It's still weird, you know?"

"Yeah," he said, his voice almost lost in the noise of the rotor. "It's still weird."

Rose looked toward the nose of the helicopter. Her parents were talking to each other, though her mother kept giving her worried glances. Rose looked away pointedly.

"I know why you were trying to find me," the Doctor said suddenly.

It sounded strange for him to use "me" to refer to the proper Doctor, the first Doctor, Rose's Doctor, though she knew it seemed natural to him, because he _was_ him.

"I was going to _stay_," she said, not caring that her voice shook a bit. "Forever, just like I said. I was going to stay with you–with the Doctor, _forever_."

"Your forever and... and his forever are two different things, Rose," the Doctor said quietly.

**11:08:47**

It was raining by the time they finally got home. The Doctor didn't seem to know what to do with himself, so Rose brought him upstairs to her room.

He hung back by the door, glancing around warily.

"It's nice," he commented. "Very you."

"Come on," she said, patting the bed beside her. "Sit down."

The Doctor sat. Neither of them said anything for several minutes.

"I'm sorry," said the Doctor finally.

Rose turned to look at him. "What are you apologizing for?"

The Doctor paused. "I'm not sure. I just... thought I ought to. For... I don't know, being here? Not being able to... take you anywhere."

"It's not your fault," said Rose absently.

"Well, I know," he said. "I mean, probably. Technically, it is, of course. But it's not my fault, per se, it's _his_. But he's me, so I guess it _is_ my fault. I mean, I'd have done the same if I were him. Which I am."

"It's not that," she said sincerely. "It's not that at all. I mean, it was _brilliant_, obviously; I loved traveling, and... I miss him, and–" She tried vainly to hold back her tears.

The Doctor put his arms around her.

"I'm sorry," she murmured into his shoulder. "That must sound really awful, me telling you how much I miss the other you."

"Well," said the Doctor. "It's perfectly understandable human reaction to the situation." He paused. "Oh, _I'm_ human. _I'm_ going to be having perfectly understandable human reactions to things. That's just... that's just..."

Rose looked at him.

"That's just brilliant, as there's absolutely nothing wrong with humans. Some of my favorite people are humans."

"Good to know your mouth's working fine," she said.

"There's no reason why it wouldn't, it–oh. _Oh_." He smiled and kissed her. It was even more wonderful than the last time and she wondered vaguely if kissing the Doctor was the kind of thing that got more wonderful each time it happened. She was definitely looking forward to finding out.

**17:21:37**

Rose did find that it was easy to lose track of time while kissing the Doctor. They tried it inside for a while, but then they moved outside. It was raining, but Rose found she didn't even care about that.

When they finally came back inside, Tony was standing by the door. The Doctor stopped dead in his tracks.

"You kissed Rose," said Tony simply.

"Yes," said the Doctor calmly. "I did indeed kiss Rose. And I intend to do so quite frequently."

He considered this. "Why?"

The Doctor opened his mouth to say something, but Rose stopped him before he attempted to explain human sexuality to a three-year-old.

"Tony, this is the Doctor. Doctor, Tony."

They regarded each other warily.

"Where's the TARDIS?" Tony asked finally.

The Doctor's face contorted briefly. Rose opened her mouth to say something, but the Doctor spoke first.

"She's with a friend," he said.

That seemed to be explanation enough for Tony. He pulled an old toothbrush out of his pocket. "I've got a sonic screwdriver," he said.

"That's quite impressive," observed the Doctor. Rose felt like sinking into the carpet. She'd never actually considered the possibility that the Doctor might find out that all the bedtime stories she told Tony were about him.

The Doctor gave her an amused smile.

A few minutes later, the Doctor and Tony were tearing around the lounge, yelling something about a band of rogue Slitheen.

**19:30:56**

Rose hated fighting with her mother. They'd had their disagreements in the past, sure, and the Doctor had been a big point of contention between them, but she couldn't stand there and listen to her mother talk about the Doctor that way, like he didn't have feelings, like he wasn't even human.

She knew she was being childish, and she knew she'd been thinking of him as the other Doctor just a few hours before, but she was still seething. What did her mother know about the Doctor? She'd never even liked him. She flopped back on the bed and rubbed her eyes.

She hoped he'd come back soon. She knew it was just in his nature, to want to explore and she wouldn't change that for anything, but there was still something in her that didn't want to let him out of her sights when they'd just been reunited.

Because they _had_ just been reunited. Even if it wasn't physically the same Doctor, he still was the Doctor. Even though he was only a few hours old, his mind was the same as his nine-hundred-year-old Time Lord counterpart's. How could she make her mother see that?

"Rose?"

She opened one eye. The Doctor was standing in the doorway.

"Are you all right?" he asked quietly.

"Yeah." She sat up and brushed her hair back from her face. He sat down on the bed beside her. "Did you talk to Mum?"

"I did."

"Sorry," said Rose.

"What are you apologizing for?"

Rose laughed. "I don't know. I guess it's just a habit."

"Oh." The Doctor sighed. "It's not your fault. Not that your mother's totally wrong, as much as I hate to admit it."

Rose blinked. "What do you mean?"

"I can't give you everything we had before," he said slowly. "This whole parallel world, full of stars we'll never see."

"Nothing's stopping us traveling the old-fashioned way," said Rose.

"True," said the Doctor. He made a face. "Plains, trains and automobiles. How very..." He glanced at Rose.

"Human?" she supplied.

"I was going to say 'motion-sickness-inducing,'" he said dryly.

She raised an eyebrow. "Don't tell me you get motion sick, the way you fly?"

The Doctor scowled. "Metacrises make for certain biological unpredictabilities."

"Like what?"

"If I knew that, they wouldn't be unpredictable!"

Rose threw her head back and laughed. "If she could just _see_ you, she'd know right away you were the same man."

"Well, let's go back downstairs, then." He stood up and held out his hand to her. "Meeting the family's a usual part of this wonderfully human arrangement, isn't it?"

**19:45:27**

"There you are!" said Jackie as the Doctor and Rose came downstairs. "Come on, you two. I've been keeping the tea."

"Mum, I'm sorry," said Rose. Jackie hugged her.

"I'm sorry, too, sweetheart," she murmured.

"I'm sorry, too!" the Doctor proclaimed.

Jackie looked at Rose. "What's he apologizing for?"

Rose shook her head. "Don't mind him. He's just... the Doctor."

Jackie nodded, clearly having understood this. "Come here," she muttered, pulling the Doctor into her arms.

"Oi!" he cried. "Be careful! I'm more fragile now!"

Jackie tightened her arms around both of them. "Don't give me that." She stepped back briskly. "We're having shepherd's pie."

The Doctor made a face.

"You don't like it, you learn to cook," said Rose.

"Not in my kitchen," said Jackie.

Sitting down to tea, all five of them, gave Rose the first true sense of contentment she'd had in ages. She had her family and she had the Doctor–who was really part of the family, now that she thought of it–or he would be.

He was great with Tony, she noted. The Doctor treated him like an equal and was totally engaged in his imaginary world. He'd be a great dad. If they had kids. She wasn't sure what the future would hold, of course, but she was looking forward to finding out.

She caught her mother's eye and they shared a smile. It probably wouldn't be easy, she knew, but it wouldn't have been easy with the other Doctor, either. And Rose knew they'd get through it. She'd torn a hole in reality to get back to this man, and that meant they could do anything. Even in small steps, hour by hour, movement by movement, they could do anything.


End file.
